Now comes the part of the tale that involves 'George'. My nieces came running out of the house when we pulled in the driveway, and each girl was carrying a small bunny. I asked if they had somewhere else they could put the bunnies, worried more about fleas than anything else, only to learn that the bunnies have free run of the house and yard. The first thing Ashley wanted to do after getting dressed was to hold one of the bunnies, and once she got a hold of one there was no getting that animal away from her. She carried her little white bunny friend everywhere with her. She held him and cuddled him and called him George. George, unfortunately, was unable to handle all the love Ashley wanted to shower on him. I tried intervening, but it was already too late for George who met the same fate as the baby chick she had briefly during our last trip. When Ashley was only 1 and a half years old, my comadre bought her a little baby chick when we were leaving the zoo. Ashley loved the little green chick (because the poor thing had been painted green prior to being sold) and named him Nugget. Nugget did not survive the night, but whether that was due to Ashley's or the cat's affection we'll never know.
When George didn't wake up from his 'nap' I gave him to my niece to give to her abuelito to take care of. Ashley was very upset that George was gone and his little friend was taken into hiding that my niece decided to bring one of the other rabbits over for a while. This rabbit was the size of a cocker spaniel; he was even bigger than the puppy that was chasing my nieces around the house most of the day. Ashley was content to sit and pet this rabbit, who was content to sit and be pet, until I asked the girls to go and put him back.
We were celebrating my birthday and my Gisela promised to make pozole and tostadas for dinner, a personal favorite of mine. We had gone to the store in the closest big town and bought 2 cakes and some ice cream for dessert although the ice cream did not refreeze until late the next day. We also bought soda but I put my foot down and absolutely refused to buy any alcohol. Ashley's soon to be godparents came over for dinner with their children. The last time I'd seen Goya and Mauro was 3 years ago when Alberto brought us to his parents’ house to see where he came from. I remember thinking how funny it was that most of the people that worked with us in McDonalds were not only from the same area in Mexico, but also were related for the most part. Small world I guess. Alberto's grandparents came to the party for a little while as did several more of his relatives from the pueblo. Next weekend would be Ashley's baptism in the same church Alberto himself was baptized in. I'm not a huge fan of parties when my in-laws are involved, so I was glad to have more time to adjust before I had to put my promise to the test. That sneaky man I married managed to make me promise that I wouldn't say anything to his dad about his drinking or his behavior with our daughter. My father-in-law as a tendency to be heavy-handed with the children and the younger ones usually run away from him crying. My compromise was that Alberto would try to keep him away from me and that he would get involved if I felt there was a need.
The oppressive heat lasted well into the night and by the time it was cool outside, it was an oven inside the house. Alberto and I shared another twin sized bed, with Ashley on another twin bed in a bedroom with no door. It tends to kill the romance when it's too hot to even sleep and there's absolutely nothing stopping some random person from walking into your room at any time. During the night Ashley was attacked by a rampaging mob of mosquitos that left her with no less than an average of two bites per square inch of exposed skin. We left Minnesota while there was still snow on the ground so it didn't occur to me to buy any insect repellent. For the most part mosquitos leave me alone, I guess my bitter rage at the horrible situation we're in make my blood unappealing, so I'm usually fine without repellent and rarely think of it. That morning I gave my poor itchy girl a coating of regular lotion since I didn't have anything for insect bites and resolved to find some repellent as soon as possible.
We went to the presa in the afternoon to try and escape the heat. I got stuck sitting in the conversation circle with the adults while the children and my husband frolicked in the remarkably dirty water. When Alberto finally dragged himself out of the water, it was because he picked up a thorn in his foot from whatever tree branch was submerged out there. I made him sit down on the huge rock and inspected his foot; the thorn was in really deep and without a tweezers and a pair of scissors it wasn't coming out. Alberto limped off into the trees and came back with a longer, sharper thorn that he used to dig out the embedded thorn. I ended up cutting away the dead skin later that evening and cleaning out what seemed to be an impossible amount of dirt and grime.
We left the presa shortly after that and then events that followed are hard to even describe. Alberto wanted to take a shower before we left his mother's house because he was filthy from the water, and so wanted to start the boiler (water heater) so he could have some hot water. He wasn't able to start it and so asked the Madrina for help, who turned on the gas but still couldn't start the boiler. My Gisela came into the room with a flaming piece of paper because the boiler didn't have a starter on it for the pilot light, and the flame ignited the gas, making a fire ball that exploded in her face. She immediately swiped her hands over her face and hair putting out the flames, as Alberto turned off the gas and pushed her out of the room. The only part I actually saw was Alberto pushing his mother into the kitchen while she frantically patted her face and head with her hands. I finished what I was doing; repacking the suitcase I believe and ran over to see what had happened. My Gisela had little seeds all over her face from the tomato she was rubbing on her skin to cool the burn. She had lost her eyebrows and eyelashes as well as some of her hair, but thankfully she did not have blisters on her skin so the burn was not deep. I left her my bottle of solarcaine, aloe vera gel with lidocaine in it to help reduce pain from burns, and told her to not put any oils on her skin for the next day.
Alberto felt horrible leaving his mom after something like that, but we had to get back to Mexico City for the work week.
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